Laughing with / at the national self: Greek television satire and the politics of self-disparagement

ABSTRACT

This study engages with the cultural consequences of the self-disparaging politics of television satire. It focuses on an emblematic program of Greek television fiction, Oi Afthairetoi (MEGA channel, 1989–1991) and the ways it both constructs and ridicules a particular version of the Greek self, the “Neoellinas”. By proposing a wider understanding of the political side-effects of television satire, which have so far been mainly addressed within the study of political satire, it turns the attention toward the role of satirical discourse in a public’s view on its national self in times of change or transition. More specifically, while it recognizes the contradictory impact that satire can have on society, it applies the concept of “satiric misfire” as a means to understand satirical endeavors which reinforce rather than counter the problematics they set out to fight against in the first place.

KEYWORDS:

• Television satire
• national identity
• Neoellinas
• irony
• Greece
• Oi Afthairetoi

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Georgia Aitaki is a PhD candidate in the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Gothenburg. Her research interests include the study of the politics of/in television fiction, the role of popular culture in times of uncertainty/ transition/ crisis, as well as the production culture of commercial television.

Notes

1 The word “afthairetoi” could mean the ones without logical foundation or sequence, but it could also refer to the “afthaireta” (buildings without appropriate permits), which constitutes a – particularly Greek- problem with deep political and sociocultural roots.

2 The word “Neoellinas” is a compound consisting of the words neo (meaning new) and Ellinas (meaning Greek). While the literal meaning of the word – that is the citizen of the modern Greek state from 1832 until today- is also in use in modern Greek language, the pejorative hue of the term which attributes to modern Greeks a number of negative characteristics is commonplace in popular parlance. It has also appeared in other examples of satirical discourse such as singer, songwriter and satirist Tzimis Panousis’ 1993 song “Neoellinas”, a vituperation of the contradictions of the modern Greek, and the more recent “Neoelliniki Mythologia” (2016) by Auguste Corteau, a modern retelling of stories from the Greek mythology infused with contemporary sociocultural elements.